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Ocean Installer has been awarded a subsea installation job in the Gulf of Mexico with one of the world’s leading international oil and gas companies on its largest deepwater producing field which sits in over 1800m water depth.

This is Ocean Installer’s first SURF contract in the GoM and marks a milestone for the company in the region.

The project, which involves the installation and testing of umbilicals and associated equipment, will be managed from the Ocean Installer Houston office with onshore preparations starting immediately. Offshore work will take place this summer and Ocean Installer will be utilising the Subsea Construction Vessel (CSV) the Normand Clipper, which is on a long-term charter from Solstad Offshore.

“This is our first SURF job in the GoM and we are very pleased to have secured this work only a year after we established our Houston office and less than four months after introducing our first vessel in the region. We are now looking forward to working closely with our client to execute the project in a safe, high quality and efficient manner,” says Mike Newbury, President of Ocean Installer in the US.

Ocean Installer opened its Houston office in April 2013 and the Normand Clipper arrived in Houston in January. The vessel has been well-received in the market and has since its arrival experienced good utilisation executing several jobs in the regional spot market.

Sembcorp Marine’s subsidiary Jurong Shipyard has secured a US$346 million contract to build a second semi-submersible well intervention rig for Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. (Helix), a market leader in subsea well intervention services.

Scheduled for delivery in mid-2016, the semi-submersible light well intervention rig will be built based on a design jointly developed by Sembcorp Marine Technology Pte Ltd (SMTP), a fully-owned Research & Development subsidiary of Sembcorp Marine, and Helix. Featuring the latest technology, the rig – named Q7000 by Helix – is an efficient purpose-designed platform with capabilities to perform a wide variety of tasks, including conventional and extended top hole drilling, subsea construction, decommissioning well intervention, coiled tubing operations and twin ROV deployment.

The Dynamic Positioning (DP) class 3 unit has the ability to operate in deepwater operations worldwide, including the North Sea and West of Africa.

William Gu, General Manager of Offshore Division said: “We are honoured that Helix has chosen to build their second semi-submersible well intervention rig with us. This repeat order is significant as it testifies as to their trust and confidence in our design and building capabilities in rigs with well intervention and subsea capabilities that are customised to meet this new growth segment of the market. We are committed to build on our partnership with Helix and to meet their stringent standards of quality, safety and reliability.”

Owen Kratz, Helix’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are pleased to work with our trusted partner Jurong Shipyard on this second unit of the semisubmersible well intervention rig, to be named Q7000.”

The above is not expected to have any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets per share and earnings per share of Sembcorp Marine for the year ending December 31, 2013.

Edison Chouest Offshore said today it will build more than 40 new vessels to meet growing demand for offshore oil and gas support in the Gulf of Mexico, the Arctic and Brazil.

The new vessels continue an aggressive build campaign the Galliano-based company launched in 2011. The privately held company, which has vessels under construction at shipyards through the U.S. and in Brazil and Poland, did not disclose the cost of the newest round of builds.

Most of the construction work will be spread among Chouest’s four U.S.-affiliate shipyards — North American Shipbuilding in Larose, LaShip in Houma, Gulf Ship in Gulfport, Miss., and Tampa Ship in Tampa, Fla. — as well as its Brazilian shipyard, Navship.

The largest portion of the new build program will be the construction of 17 diesel-electric platform supply vessels. Chouest intends to market the new vessels, which feature a new hull form designed to carry more weight while lowering hydrodynamic resistance, as a more fuel-efficient option to oil and gas operators in the Gulf of Mexico.

Chouest’s plans also include two new ice class vessels designed for service work in the Arctic and four new subsea construction vessels slated for service in the Gulf of Mexico. The company’s fleet of icebreaking vessels, which will total six when the new builds are delivered, has supported Royal Dutch Shell’s drilling activity in Alaska.

Chouest also provided an update about its affiliated port facilities at Port Fourchon. The C-Port 3 facility currently under construction will open in March and feature six covered slips to transfer cargo and provide support for deepwater support vessels. Design has begun on an additional section, C-Port 4, which could have as many as nine covered slips.

The company is also planning to expand its C-Terminal worksite at Fourchon to include outside storage areas, warehouses, cement and barite plants, and fuel, water, mud and drilling fluid sales stations. Chouest purchased the facility earlier this year.

Chouest, founded as Edison Chouest Boat Rental in 1960, operates a fleet of nearly 250 offshore service and support vessels worldwide.

InterMoor successfully replaced (8) spiral-strand platform wires on a permanent production facility in May 2011 without requiring a platform shutdown or loss of production. The operation was completed using a single Construction Anchor-Handling Vessel (CAHV) at a significant cost savings from the traditional method involving a derrick barge.

Each mooring line consisted of unjacketed spiral-strand wire at the fairlead, two sections of jacketed spiral strand in the water column and studless chain at the seafloor. Syntactic-foam submersible buoys had been installed at each spiral-strand wire connection, so each mooring line had two buoys.

Only the platform wires were to be replaced, and the remaining mooring components including the buoys were to be reused. Protecting the existing components from damage during recovery and reinstallation posed several unique challenges. One of the main operational challenges was to design a way to bring the upper buoy and platform wire out of the water and secure them on deck so that the old platform wire could be disconnected. To accomplish this, InterMoor designed and installed a custom hang-off porch at the CAHV’s stern. The porch used a combination of pneumatic and hydraulic cylinders to manipulate and align the entire porch as each buoy connection was recovered and deployed. The porch also had separate stoppers for the socket connections and a removable cradle for the buoy. Another operational challenge was the unknown condition of the buoys themselves, particularly since they were to be reused on the replacement wires. There was no industry experience at the time in retrieving foam buoys that had remained submerged at depth for over a decade. This paper will explore these challenges and others in more detail as well as the steps that were taken to successfully overcome them.

STX OSV Holdings Limited (“STX OSV”), one of the major global designers and shipbuilders of offshore and specialized vessels, has received an order for the design and construction of a large, advanced Offshore Subsea Construction Vessel (OSCV) for Ocean Installer and Solstad Offshore.

The contract value amounts to approximately NOK 1.4 billion. Ocean Installer and Solstad will have joint ownership of the vessel, which is to be operated by Ocean Installer. The vessel is scheduled for delivery from STX OSV in Norway in 2Q 2014. The hull will be delivered from STX OSV in Romania. The contract is subject to board approval by the Norwegian Guarantee Institute for Export Credits (GIEK), expected to be received on or around 20 June 2012.

The vessel, of type OSCV 06L, has been designed by STX OSV and Solstad in close cooperation with Ocean Installer, and is highly advanced in terms of station keeping, efficiency and operational performance. The vessel is designed to operate efficiently under demanding conditions and is well fitted for SURF (Subsea,Umbilicals, Risers, Flowlines) operations.

The vessel is 156.7 meters long, 27 meters wide and has an aft cargo deck area of 2,100 m2. She will be equipped with a 150 t Vertical Lay System (VLS) and a 3,000 t below deck carousel, Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) in hangars launched through moonpools, and two AHC offshore cranes (400 t and 100 t) which both can operate down to depths of 3,000 meters. The accommodation facilities will have a capacity of 140 persons. The vessel is designed according to the latest environmental standards with focus on low fuel consumption.

Steinar Riise, CEO of Ocean Installer said: “We are very satisfied with placing the contract for this new-build, and are looking forward to developing our operations with this vessel, which is built for heavy construction work, and is highly advanced when it comes to station keeping, efficiency and operational performance. This investment is in line with our growth strategy, as the vessel is capable of conducting the full range of subsea construction operations in the global market. Moreover, this joint venture consolidates the strategic cooperation between Solstad and Ocean Installer”

Ocean Installer is a Norwegian subsea entrepreneur headquartered in Stavanger,Norway. Ocean Installer holds strong EPCI expertise within the SURF (Subsea, Umbilicals, Risers, Flowlines) segment and is rapidly expanding its operations andorganization within and beyond the North Sea basin. Solstad Offshore ASA is among the largest shipping companies in Norway, providing advanced vessels and extensive maritime competence for operations related to the offshore petroleum industry. The company has about 1,600 employees, and operates 50 vessels all over the world. Solstad Offshore is headquartered in Skudeneshavn, Norway and has branch offices in Brazil, Singapore, United Kingdom and Australia

Baker Hughes Incorporated has posted Weekly Rig Count reports to its Investor Relations website according to which the U.S. offshore rig count is up from last week. BHI Rig Count: U.S. -2 to 874 rigs U.S. Rig Count is down 2 rigs from last week to 874, with oil rigs up 5 to 664, gas […]

Exxon Mobil Corporation, an American oil and gas corporation, Friday announced estimated second quarter 2015 earnings of $4.2 billion, compared with $8.8 billion in the same period a year earlier. The U.S. Upstream operations recorded a loss of $47 million, down $1.2 billion from the second quarter of 2014. Non-U.S. Upstream earnings were $2.1 billion, […]

Chevron Corporation, an American multinational energy corporation, Friday reported earnings of $571 million for the second quarter 2015, compared with earnings of $5.7 billion in the same period last year. Included in the quarter were impairments of $1.96 billion and other charges of approximately $670 million relating to project suspensions and adverse tax […]

Afren, an international independent oil exploration and production company, has filed for administration after failing to get support for its refinancing efforts. According to Afren, the recently completed operational review has led the company to expect materially lower near-term production from its assets as compared to the production level assumed in the […]

Awilco Drilling PLC, a UK-based drilling contractor, and Hess Limited have mutually agreed to release the WilHunter semi-submersible rig ahead of the December 1, 2015 contract date as a consequence of the early completion of the decommissioning program. Awilco has said that there will be no negative financial repercussions to either party as a result of this […]

The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SCR 2015) came into force on July 19, 2015. They are the UK’s response to the EU’s Offshore Directive which was adopted in June 2013. Britain’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published a new guide to help offshore oil and gas operators to adhere […]

British energy company BG Group, soon to be taken over by Shell in a $70 billion deal, has seen its profit rise in the second quarter of 2015. Namely, BG Group reported that its total earnings for the second quarter of 2015 were $2 225 million compared to $1 367 million in the second quarter […]

The World Bank Thursday approved a $700 million investment in guarantees for Ghana’s Sankofa gas project, located in the Cape Three Points block, 60km offshore Ghana. According to the Washington-based international organization World Bank, Sankofa is a transformational project that will help develop new sources of clean and affordable natural gas for domesti […]

U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources approved Thursday the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015, and Offshore Production and National Security Act (OPENS), which would ensure Alaska and other coastal states receive a fair share of the revenue from oil and gas activity off their shores. The bill would also lift the ban on […]

Subsea World News has put together a recap of the most interesting articles from the previous week (July 27– August 02). DOF Subsea, a subsidiary of DOF ASA, has reached an agreement with Subsea 7... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Board of Siem Offshore has decided to appoint Idar Hillersøy as new CEO of the company with effect from August 01. Idar Hillersøy has since April 01, 2015 been responsible for the OSV segment of... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Siemens Energy Management and VBMS (UK) Ltd have been selected by the proposed Navitus Bay wind park as the preferred electrical transmission system supplier. The two companies will come together to... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Stena Line considers the European Commission’s tacit approval of public financing of the Fehmarn Belt fixed rail-road link between Denmark and Germany discriminatory and not in line with EU State aid... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The Honourable Gail Shea, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Environment and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Tidal Lagoon Power (TLP) has appointed JBA Consulting to undertake flood risk assessment work in relation to their Tidal Lagoon Cardiff project. The Severn Estuary is the focus of Tidal Lagoon... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Jee Ltd has announced a number of key internal promotions to strengthen its capabilities and champion the delivery of projects. The new structure, headed up by Jonathan McGregor, Head of engineering... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer will begin two months of dives using unmanned remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, to explore marine protected areas in the central Pacific Ocean. Starting on Aug. 1,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

JOIDES Resolution research vessel is preparing to take a group of international scientists on a two-month ocean expedition up the coast of Western Australia to drill deep into the seabed, on a... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

America’s first Bachelor of Science in Maritime Technology, offered by Northwestern Michigan College, is to get a special Falcon ROV, Saab Seaeye informed. In what the college says is a pioneering... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Statoil’s active leases in the Gulf of Mexico

This week the eminent New York Times in-house philosopher David Brooks laments that he is “sometimes grumpier when [he] stay[s] at a nice hotel,” as compared with a “budget hotel” where even “the waffle maker in the breakfast area is a treat.” Brooks has said many contentious things in his tenure with the Times, but the insinuation that a waffle maker is eve […]

A recent feature in The New York Times highlights what it describes as the "Dorms You'll Never See on the Campus Tour." These residence halls stand in stark contrast to many of the opulent living situations colleges now use to lure students on campus. "Built in the middle of the last century or even earlier, they have survived to shock an […]

When you're commuting home, you may find yourself with free time and nothing to do but play Candy Crush over and over again. Why not teach yourself how to code instead? That's the idea behind Lrn, a new iOS app that lets you learn the basics of coding in JavaScript — even without an internet connection. Lrn, which just launched Tuesday, condenses t […]

Handy’s third birthday party last month was everything you’d expect from a startup soiree. Twenty- and thirtysomethings crowded the dimly lit bar at Pergola, a Mediterranean spot in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, munching on skewers of free-range chicken and a seemingly endless cascade of spicy meatballs with tzatziki sauce, as a hoodie-clad co-founder boast […]

For a 56th birthday present to himself, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-North Carolina) took perhaps the most aggressive step yet against the Republican Party's establishment. It marked perhaps the most bombastic challenge to Boehner's leadership, and another point at which long-simmering tensions within the Republican caucus have exploded out into the open. […]

The cost of building a single parking stall in a Seattle residential garage is an estimated $20,000 and $50,000, according to The Stranger. That cost gets passed on to the renters, who can pay $500 more a month in low‐rise apartments, a 2012 Portland, Oregon study found. The GazeBox likely won’t solve these problems, but it might offer an interesting alterna […]

London (AFP) - Tributes poured in Sunday for Cilla Black, the 1960s pop star championed by The Beatles who became one of Britain's best-loved television presenters, following her death at the age of 72.Black's publicist confirmed her death in a brief statement, and media reports citing local police said she passed away at her home in Estepona near […]

Lately, it seems that every new study about social mobility further corrodes the story Americans tell themselves about meritocracy; each one provides more evidence that comfortable lives are reserved for the winners of what sociologists call the birth lottery. But, recently, there have been suggestions that the birth lottery's outcomes can be manipulate […]

Now that the typical school year is ending, many high school seniors are excited to be heading off to college — but they've still got a few more excruciating weeks left hanging out in their hometowns before school starts.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: This haunting film called 'Room' has Oscar written all over it […]

Early last month in "Crowdsourcing Police Brutality", we highlighted an ongoing project at The Guardian which is attempting to tally the number of people killed by police in the US during 2015. Use of deadly force by authorities in America has become a hot button issue after several high profile cases involving the death of unarmed black suspects c […]

Submitted by Lee Adler via WallStreetExaminer.com, The headline, fictional, seasonally adjusted (SA) number of initial unemployment claims for last week came in at 267,000. The Wall Street economist crowd consensus guess close to the mark this week, at 272,000. We focus on the trend of the actual data, instead of the seasonally manipulated headline number ex […]

August 2 is the day when Russia celebrates its Airborne Forces, only this year something went very wrong, and it was all caught on tape. As Reuters report, one pilot died and another was injured when a helicopter crashed at an airshow in the Russian region of Ryazan on Sunday. During aerobatics at the event some 200 km (124 miles) south-east of Moscow, an Mi […]

It was almost exactly two years ago, when during China's long-forgotten attempt to actively deleverage its economy (remember that? good times...) we commented on the country's s first attempt to estimate what its local government debt is since June 2011. This is what we said in July 2013: "China is preparing to admit that the level of problem […]

Excerpted from Third Point LLC's letter to investors, Lately, a varied chorus of powerful union bosses, politicians and candidates, an asset management company executive, and a few ivory tower types have asserted that activism is short term in nature, engaged in by “hit and run” investors who care only about making a quick buck while leaving a company […]

Meet 31-year-old Dan Price. Dan is the CEO of Seattle-based credit card payments processing firm Gravity Payments, and three months ago, he did a funny thing. After talking with a friend who confessed to having difficulties making student loan payments and rent each month on an annual salary of $40,000, Dan decided to set a $70,000 per year pay floor at Gra […]

Submitted by Alasdair Macleod via GoldMoney.com, Anyone with a nose for markets will tell you that the Chinese government's attempt to rescue the country's stock markets from collapse is far from succeeding. Bubbles collapse, period; and government interventions don't stop them. Furthermore, we are beginning to see a crack widen in the foundat […]

Submitted by Mac Slavo of SHTFplan.com Are We Being Forced Into a “Second American Civil War”… If So, Who Will Win? A culture war has been stirred up. Divisions are along predictable lines: racism, police abuse, controversial social issues, and plenty of left vs. right, demographics and regional baggage to clash over as well. And by all accounts, differences […]

Part 4: The State Strikes Back The counterfeiting business, like any other, has fundamental economic constraints. At one end, operators must produce a product. That, in turn requires very specialized equipment and supplies, all of which cost money. The better the product is to be, the more it will cost to produce. In the case of the bills sitting in front of […]

It takes more than raw power to run a successful state; people must believe that laying their wealth at your feet is a righteous thing to do. This week, we'll look at a big part of how this idea came to Europe. Continued from last week... THE RE-CONQUEST The Church was not, however, willing to forgo military power. They knew its importance and wished to […]

Today's excerpt is by Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor. The Sandra Bland arrest video he discusses will – or at least should – outrage anyone who respects justice and decency. The way the officer repeatedly screams, "I'm giving you a lawful order" suggests he defines "lawful" as "subservient to me. […]

Modern technology makes life easier, but it can also change our perception in potentially dangerous ways. For instance, the Internet lets us see news and political commentary from many different perspectives. Intuitively, this might seem positive. We can easily examine various viewpoints and make informed decisions. What really happens, though, is that peopl […]

Due to Obamacare, my health plan has become something other than insurance. It is now, for the most part, nothing other than a wealth transfer scheme to benefit the politically connected over others. In order to identify the difference between health insurance and government-mandated health care coverage, we can look to Human Action, in which Ludwig von Mise […]